Tuesday morning, Apple formally announced the release date for iOS 11: September 19th.

All iOS updates come with change, both good and bad. In most cases, Apple gives us the tools to push our ideas further and our apps improve as a result. Occasionally, they remind us that some apps need extra polish, while others may be ready to retire. iOS 11 is an exciting update, but one that is forcing such change. Below is a list of all of our apps and their compatibility with iOS 11.

TimeCruncher:We’re working on an update, but the current version is 64-bit and iOS11 compatible.

Spam Alert:Our original flagship app is not yet 64-bit compatible and therefore not available on iOS 11. Tho disappointing, anyone who previously installed the app (in iOS 10 or earlier) will STILL be able to take advantage of the app’s primary feature: warning when spam is calling.

Until we’re able to update the app, new numbers cannot and will not be blocked, but any of the previous numbers (more than 1,500) will continue to be blocked.

POPtorious! & POP Jr!:
Unfortunately, POPtorious (our first app!) and its sister app, POP Jr!, both need a few adjustments before they will be ready to take advantage of iOS 11. We hope to make those adjustments soon so that we can get them back in the app store for existing users to continue playing and for new users to discover.

reFaced:
At this time, we have decided to retire reFaced. When reFaced debuted, it was a popular way to swap faces with your friends and family. But, as bigger, better apps (like Snap) hit the market, we have been unable to keep up. Instead of rebuilding reFaced (from the ground up), we’ve decided to pour our efforts into improving our existing library and creating new and exciting apps.

As always, we thank you for your support and appreciate your patience as we update our existing apps.
We have lots of exciting updates and new apps on our roadmap and we look forward to sharing them ALL with you!

How many times has someone asked you to “text” them when you got home? But, you forgot?

Or, how many times has someone told you that they’d text you when they got home but, they forgot?

Introducing Knowtify for iPhone. It notifies your friends and/or family automatically.Now you don’t have to worry about your friends (your kids, elderly parents, family, etc.) and they won’t have to worry about you.

Knowtify uses iPhone’s built-in GPS technology to put a virtual “fence” around your home. When you’re leaving a location (or anytime before returning home) and want to alert others once you’re back safely, simply launch the app and select who you’d like to notify. Once set, the app will monitor your location (in the background). When you return home, the phone will signal the app and the app will notify your chosen friends & family.

The app can react in one of two ways (which you define, each time, when setting):

1) Automatically send an SMS notification to the people you selected or…

2) Wait for you to arrive home before notifying you personally. This option is still automated, but requires action before it notifies your selected friends & family. If you aren’t home, you can snooze the app (for another few minutes) or have it dial emergency services for immediate help.

…

Believe it or not, we started building this app just over TWO YEARS ago!
What appeared to be a simple problem to fix, quickly turned into a wildly complex challenge to solve.
When building apps, we strive to create powerful apps that solve universal problems.
Then, we attempt to design a solution that is intuitive, beautiful and power efficient.

Knowtify is the embodiment of these ideals.

When we’d become discouraged by the (seemingly) endless development timeline, we were reminded:

“it takes 6 months to build a Rolls Royce and just 13 hours to build a Toyota.”

Good things, simply, take time.

We’ve spent years streamlining the interface, focusing the features and improving battery usage. We’ve also taken quite some time to develop a companion Watch app to further expedite the app’s core functionality. As the app has evolved, it’s improved and now it’s ready to debut!

I hope that you’ll find it useful, use it regularly and recommend it to your family and friends!

Do you remember back in high school, when we had a “word of the day” calendar to learn new words, to sporadically use throughout the day? It was a great effort to improve our vocabulary and, ultimately increase our SAT scores. I MISS those calendars.

I recently took an international holiday to mentally regroup and on the return flight, I was scrolling through years of inspirational quotes that I’ve collected: A mental pep-talk-routine I have, often. But, I was dismayed: why don’t I have these affirmations daily?

Then, inspiration struck💡!

I ordered a cocktail (to keep the juices flowing 😜) and sketched out the architecture of a new app: Daily Sage.

The app has taken on a wonderful life of its own. It went from being a product to an experience…for me and all those involved.

I’ve been actively recruiting professional entrepreneurs, mental health experts, life coaches, actors, comedians, etc. All looking to share their best life advice.

My first featured contributor recently wrote me this:

“Going back through and re-reading all of these favorite quotes of mine, I’ve realized I was actually speaking to myself this whole time. These were all messages that I selected because they at some point were the very thing I needed to hear. Spending dedicated time with them doing the artwork has been a very lovely walk down memory lane and it’s a huge reminder to keep pursuing our dreams! ;)”

So there it is: a light-weight app that delivers a quick, unobtrusive, inspirational message, every morning.

When SPAM Alert debuted in January of 2014, we were committed to stopping mobile SPAM.
Since our launch, more than 400 (!) new numbers have been submitted to our database by SPAMAlert users!
We have painstakingly followed up with EACH entry, and have verified that 200 of those numbers are in fact SPAM callers.

In a continued effort to stop these unwanted calls, we’re releasing our first “service pack”:
it contains all of the numbers you’ve been protected from [for the last 6 months], as well as the 200 new entries we’ve vetted.

Our goal is to release Service Pack updates twice a year, continuously, to protect you and your family from mobile SPAM.
These packs will cost $0.99US, but are transferable to any personal phone, even if upgraded.

Some users have asked why SPAM Alert and its Service Packs aren’t FREE. Here’s why:

Creating SPAM Alert was tricky.
We wanted an app that could be installed easily, wouldn’t impact battery life and could protect a user for as long as they used an iPhone. The Brushmedia team met these goals, but not after months of brainstorming & development.
In addition, we must research and verifyALL newly submitted numbers, daily.

i’m happy to announce that our latest utility app, codenamed T2T, has been submitted to the Apple @AppStore.
With just 17 days of design & development, we’re eager for it to be released into the wild. Hopefully, some time next week. Stay tuned!

Apple has approved the bug fixes in our reFaced app and has released the new version (v1.0.1) just in time for the wknd.
Head to the @AppStore , update today, and say goodbye to those pesky notifications!

If you haven’t seen some of our latest @reFacedApp contributions, head over to the Instagram gallery, and share yours with the world, by tagging #reFacedApp in your next photo!